I would say that the biggest thing God is overwhelming me with on this trip is his LOVE. How simple a thought, and yet how profound it truly is.
Love is the thing we as humans are all seeking in one way or another. Love gives us something to live for and a reason to keep going even when times are hard. It fills the deep longings in our hearts, and ultimately it just feels good! You know you are loved when you are free to be yourself with no strings attached. When you are loved, it causes you to love in return. It’s powerful; the most powerful force on earth!
Throughout my life, I’ve met people that have grown up in homes saturated in love, and I’ve met the opposite. It doesn’t really matter what country I find myself in or who I find myself surrounded with; we are all the same. Whether I am sitting next to the richest man on earth or the poorest widow, I see the very same longings embedded deep within their hearts. It’s a longing for love; to love and be loved.
True love cannot be bought and it cannot be sold; it is simply given. When almost two years ago I found myself in a season of great doubt and began to question whether or not to even continue on in my faith, it was the love of the Father that drew me in. Even though it was the only assurance I had, it was too deep for me to ignore. I knew God loved me despite anything I had done or any doubts I had about him.
A man came over to our house in Tanzania the other night, drunk. He looked to be somewhere in his 20’s and told us that he was tired of drinking and throwing his life away. He made good money but continually threw it away in an effort to fill the holes in his heart. The problem was he just couldn’t quit on his own. He had tried and tried and continued to feel like a failure. I sat there with a few of my teammates listening to his story and wondering what in the world to say to this broken man.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of the young man (Christopher, for my blog readers) I met in Kenya who told me an all-too-familiar story about his life. I saw the same repentant heart in this man that I had seen in Christopher, and I was all-at-once overwhelmed by the Father’s love for him. Yet I could see the way that Satan was stealing from his life, and I knew that he simply needed to know he was loved. We talked to him about grace and salvation and the gospel, and then we prayed for him.
As several of us layed our hands on this man and prayed that he would be delivered of the torment he was in, tears began to fall from his cheeks. Soon he was sobbing, and then all of a sudden he fell over as he relinquished control of his spirit to the Holy Spirit. We continued to pray and I saw the evil that was pervading his life leave him through his wails of anguish.
Suddenly, there was peace. We picked him up, set him in a chair, and let the rest of his tears fall. I felt compelled to walk over to this man, grab his shoulders, and declare God’s love over him again and again. I told him that he no longer had shame before God because that had been wiped away. Our heavenly Father did not see him through the lens of condemnation; he saw this broken man as his child, his very own beloved.
I had seen that his repentance was real, and his desire was truly to make a 180 degree turn from the life he had been living. Because we could still smell the alcohol on his breath, we told him to return the next evening completely sober to talk about what had happened. I became nervous when he did not show up the next night. However, my heart was overwhelmed with joy as two days later this changed man showed up on our doorstep. He wore a smile from ear to ear, and I could see that the change was real.
Let it wash over you.
